Lattice today reported fourth-quarter revenue of $52.1 million and earnings before goodwill of $5.1 million, or 5 cents per diluted share, in line with the company's earlier projections.

For the 2001 fiscal year, the company saw revenue decline 48% to $295.3 million. Earnings before goodwill declined 62% from 2000 to $53.9 million, or 48 cents per diluted share, excluding a non-recurring charge related to foundry investments.

"Last year was one of the worst years on record for the semiconductor and PLD markets," said Cyrus Tsui, Lattice's chairman and chief executive in a released statement. "Despite a substantial decline in revenue, we are pleased to have maintained our profitability."

Gross margin for the fiscal year remained above 62%, while operating margin before goodwill was 20%, Tsui said.

While revenue slid, Lattice worked on making its new products more competitive, he said, releasing several low-voltage and high-performance CPLD lines, as well as acquiring the FPGA business of Agere Systems Inc.

So far in the first quarter, backlog is sequentially improved. "In retrospect, it appears that our business bottomed at the end of 2001," Tsui said. "Consequently, we anticipate a return to a sequential quarterly revenue growth trajectory in 2002."